Fall in flat prices slows down housing market

Posted under General by Alan

The UK government figures point out that a significant fall in flat prices is one of the causes for slowdown in the housing market.

It is reported that flat prices came down by 3.6% during May and June. Though the market is continuously slowing down, the Department for Local Government and Communities (DCLG) reports that prices are higher by 0.6% compared to those prevailing in June 2007.

DCLG survey, compiled on the basis of information from lenders, normally lags behind by a month with other surveys on house prices. It is also based more on total money invested and gets loaded towards London prices which are quite high.

The report indicates that the UK house price growth has slowed down for the eighth consecutive month. In June it was 0.6%.

The annual growth of house prices in England fell to 0.5% in June from 3.1% in May. The fall was even lower for Scotland at 0.2%. The year-on-year fall in Wales is reported to be 1% and 9.4% in Northern Ireland.

But the English regions were the exception where prices rose marginally compared to prices in June 2007. Humber prices were up by 0.7%, South East by 1.8%, the East 1.5% and London by 1.4%.

On average, first-time buyers derived a benefit of 0.5% on the prices in June.

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